Kirsten Stevens and her children back Antony, 11, Heather 4 and two month old Michael are reeling from the lost of their husband and father David Stevens. Their father was a passenger on the de Haviland Beaver float plane that went missing Monday morning from Campbell River.Debra Brash
/ Times Colonist

Darla MacDonald (left), Kirsten Stevens (centre) and Sally Feast, who lost loved ones on the ill-fated MJM Air Beaver flight that crashed off Quadra Island in 2005, meet in April on the dock at Campbell River Spit, near where the float plane took off.Ian Smith, PNG
/ Vancouver Sun

Kirsten Stevens (centre) points to the site of a float-plane crash in 2005 off Quadra Island that killed five men, including her husband, David. Darla MacDonald (left) lost her fiance, Fabian, and Sally Feast lost her brother, Arnold. The women gathered at Stevens' Campbell River home to advocate for improved safety measures.Ian Smith, PNG
/ Vancouver Sun

Five years after five men drowned in an MJM Air de Havilland Beaver float-plane crash, three women who lost loved ones in that disaster gather around a marine chart spread across a kitchen table and talk about what went wrong and what must be done to prevent more deaths.

Kirsten Stevens lost her husband David, 40; Darla Mac-Donald her 32-year-old fiance, Fabian Bedard; and Sally Feast her brother Arnold, 52, the pilot and her last relative.

What's especially tragic is that simple safety fixes that cost only a few hundred dollars-- effective life jackets worn while flying, and a satellite-based tracking system that would have immediately alerted authorities to their crash site -- were not in place during the MJM Air flight.

The Beaver took off at 10:10 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2005, from Tyee Spit in Campbell River.

It crashed minutes later and sank off Quadra Island, but the company delayed notifying search and rescue for four hours.

And because the aircraft contained no tracking technology and had two destinations that morning -- logging sites in Knight Inlet and Frances Bay near Bute Inlet -- no one knew where to look.

"It was crazy how far they were searching," Stevens says.

Location half the battle

David Burneau, air coordinating officer for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria, estimates the three-day air search spanned 8,000 square kilometres -- about half again the size of Prince Edward Island.

It involved two Cormorant and four Griffin helicopters, three Buffalo and one Aurora aircraft, the patrol frigate HMCS Regina and, later, the coastal defence ship HMCS Whitehorse. There were two Civil Air Search and Rescue Association aircraft and 15 nonmilitary vessels. All of which emphasized the importance of aircraft using even cheap technology to identify when and where an aircraft goes down.

"If we can locate where the crash site is, it's going to save time, save resources and save lives," Burneau confirms.

Stevens tells how a man on Quadra Island cutting up firewood that morning stopped and heard what sounded like a human cry for help about three hours after the crash.

"They sounded really quiet and weak and not panicked," she continues. "He went down to the beach ... looked around and then couldn't hear it any more. He thought maybe some kids were playing."

She now suspects that the cry was her husband, an Interfor log scaler whose body washed ashore at Village Bay on Quadra Island three days later -- after which the official search ended. He wore a floater jacket, but that didn't stop the ravages of a cold ocean.

"He suffered from hypothermia for a long time before he eventually succumbed," she says.

The bodies of the other four men, including brothers Doug and Trevor Decock, 39 and 34 respectively, were never found.

The end of the official search didn't deter the family members. They pressed on, spending close to $250,000 to search for the wreckage employing side-scan sonar. They finally pulled the vessel to the surface off southeast Quadra Island on July 28, 2005, fetching the engine, as well, more than two years later.

The clock on the 1959-built aircraft had stopped at 10:16 a.m. The seatbelts were undone. There were no bodies. Life jackets were still in their pouches above the door.

"They all got out," Stevens says.

The three women -- none of whom knew each other before the crash -- have a lot to say about the case.

They remain critical of the federal transportation safety board (TSB) for not using the 2005 crash to reinforce earlier recommendations to Transport Canada about the need for safety improvements, such as making the wearing of life jackets mandatory.

"This is the big frustration," Stevens says. "There were so many things that should have come out of our accident as recommendations.

"Five people died. Don't tell us there's nothing to be learned from this accident."

The TSB did submit a letter to the B.C. Coroners Service, much of which was incorporated into the coroner's final report, in 2009.

The TSB is not in the business of finding fault, but gave the distinct impression pilot error played a part.

The agency found no reason to believe the plane wasn't working properly. It noted the pilot had reported fog during a flight earlier that morning, and it concluded "weather represented a risk factor" for the flight. The letter also noted it was the pilot's first day working full-time for MJM, although he had 2,600 hours flight experience.

"He was two hours into work," says his sister. "He loved to fly. It wasn't like he just fell off the turnip truck."

The three women believe mechanical failure caused the crash, based on witnesses who heard a float plane flying with apparent engine trouble.

No mandate

Among the coroner's 11 recommendations, none of which Transport Canada has yet mandated, are: pilots be required to complete underwater-egress training; passengers wear life jackets equipped with personal-locator aids; planes carry inflatable life-rafts; and planes have waterproof electronic locator transmitters or some other means to help locate a crash site in water.

"They haven't implemented anything," Stevens says. "Nothing."

On Monday, federal Transport Minister John Baird announced several initiatives related to float-plane safety.

Stevens is waiting to see what really happens.

"Promises have been made to me and other families over the years. Until I see the new regulations and standards actually implemented -- not industry consultation, not legal editing -- but actually implemented, I won't be satisfied."

The three women would like to see greater oversight of the float-plane industry, even as Ottawa proceeds with a policy that puts the onus on aviation companies to create their own "safety management systems."

MJM Air, owned by Mike Adama, went out of business one year after the crash.

The women also support creation of a College of Professional Pilots of Canada to improve safety conditions.

And they strongly support mandatory wearing of life jackets, and mandatory egress courses for commercial pilots working on water.

They have to wonder whether the cries of five men, all staying together and wearing life jackets, might have been more readily heard by residents of populous Quadra Island.

"I think five guys huddling together calling for help would have been heard," Stevens says. "There were people on their boats out there, shrimping, towing logs."

She believes Transport Canada has not yet forced passengers on float planes to wear life jackets because it has perceived the issue to be less of a priority. "Because airlines carry more passengers, those are the focus. ... But that's not where we have accidents. It's the small operators."

In response to the Nov. 29, 2009 Seair crash that killed six off Saturna Island, Transport Canada will hold an industry workshop this fall in Vancouver to discuss safety measures for float planes. Stevens, a self-styled public watchdog ( www.safeskies.ca),will be there.

Just three days ago, an Atleo River Air Service Cessna 185 crashed off Ahousaht near Tofino. The pilot and three passengers died.

"Accidents happen," Stevens emphasizes. "You have to look at your operations and say, 'What would we do if that happened to us?' You continually have to be proactive."

MacDonald says life jackets would have helped, even if the men had ultimately succumbed. "At least we would have had their bodies; we would have been able to lay them to rest."

Tracking systems

The issue of satellite-based tracking systems on aircraft surfaced in the crash of a Pacific Coastal Airlines amphibious twin-engined Grumman Goose, at 7:22 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2008, en route to a logging site south of Port Hardy. The pilot and four passengers died.

The company did not notify the Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre until 9:53 a.m., about one hour after the aircraft's expected arrival time back at Port Hardy. The aircraft's emergency-locator transmitter was destroyed, and the two survivors were not rescued until 4:10 p.m., almost nine hours after the accident.

Pacific Coastal Airlines has since invested in technology that "provides an emergency-locator transmitter (ELT)-like function" on all its float planes, the TSB said in its report.

Company president Quentin Smith said in an interview that the tracking system provides information on position every two minutes. "It's a good way of keeping track of exactly where your aircraft are," he said.

Jamie Molloy, vice-president of aviation and corporate safety with Harbour Air Seaplanes, said his company is purchasing up to eight satellite-based units that can also track aircraft every two minutes.

Down at Tyee Spit, where the ill-fated MJM Air flight took off five years ago, the wind is blowing hard this day, grounding all float planes.

In the office of Vancouver Island Air is owner Larry Langford, who started his float-plane company in 1985 and operates a single-engine de Havilland and a twin-engined Beechcraft.

About three years ago, the Beechcraft lost power on takeoff, a float dug in and the plane cartwheeled near a logging camp in Jackson Bay, about 60 kilometres north of Campbell River. No one died.

Events like that have spurred Langford to adopt safety measures well beyond what Transport Canada requires. He also bought two satellite-based emergency-tracking devices. The simplest, which costs about $200 plus $100 a year to maintain, provides information every 10 minutes on an aircraft's location and speed, which can be viewed on Google.

The other $650 device is a GPS/emergency-locator transmitter, which is registered with federal search-and-rescue officials. Once activated, the airline is notified within three minutes that its plane is missing.

Langford has also put up weather webcams at nine sites on the coast. All can be viewed on his company website. A larger network known as B.C. and Yukon webcams provides a visual image at remote sites from Washington state to Alaska.

He'd also like to see Transport Canada produce a safety video/ DVD for passengers.

One of Baird's initiatives announced Monday is to implement an updated safety awareness campaign for float-plane passengers and commercial operators starting this month -- including posters, pamphlets, video, and web page.

In less than a week, Abbotsford recording artists Hedley went from touring Canada with two supporting acts and a popular new album to pariahs ensnared in allegations of sexual misconduct. On Monday, accusations that band members Jacob Hoggard, Dave Rosin, Tommy Mac and Jay Benison had engaged in sexual behaviour with teenage girls surfaced on Twitter […]

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